CRIMINAL JUSTICE 495
INDEPENDENT STUDY GUIDELINES
This course is designed to give students the opportunity to work with faculty members
in an area of mutual interest. The student must have completed 24 hours of Criminal
Justice course work, three hours of English Composition and obtain permission of the
instructor before registering. Depending upon the number of credit hours desired (1-6),
students will be given a workload equivalent with 400 level classroom subjects.
Students should note that there are superior expectations of performance in an
independent studies project. It should also be noted that the decision to accept or
reject students' independent study proposals lies entirely with the individual members of
the Criminal Justice faculty. A contract which details the course expectations,
completion date and other conditions is to be signed by both the instructor and the
student prior to enrollment in the class. Once permission has been obtained from the
instructor and the contract has been signed, the student may obtain the call number for
the course from the Department Secretary and register for the course.
There are three ways by which credit may be attained, as follows:
Research Paper. In consultation with the instructor, students may research a particular
subject and develop an original paper. All papers must be in conformance with
standard academic writing format; typewritten, double-spaced, properly footnoted,
correct spelling and punctuation, standardized academic manuscript format (see the
Term Paper Guidelines at www.unl.edu/eskridge/termpaper.html). The minimum paper
length is 3,500 words or approximately 15-16 double spaced typewritten pages per
credit hour. The instructor must approve any deviations from this standard. All papers
become the property of the Department, and will not be returned.
Readings. Students may obtain credit for this course by reading books suggested by
the instructor. A minimum of two books are required for each credit hour. A review of
each book will be presented to the instructor. The standard guide for the length of the
book review is 2,000 words per book. This is approximately 8-10 double spaced
typewritten pages. A final exam over the books will also be given by the instructor.
Additional faculty members may be invited to participate in the exam. In addition, other
examination options may be chosen by the instructor to fulfill the course credit.
Other Student Projects. Other projects may be approved by individual faculty
members. Once again, the workload standard will be such that you will spend as much
time on the project as you would in a 400 level course. This will be a minimum of 55
work hours for each credit hour.